the broken man
by paulinus maximus
Summary: au after the death of his son and the capture of ba sing se iroh becomes a cruel and vicous man slowly descending into madness meanwhile zuko and azula find themselves locked in a bitter power struggle to see who shall be his new heir
1. Chapter 1

the broken man

Iroh walked out of his headquarters and for the first time since the seige began he felt a glimmer of hope the outer wall had finally been breached the previous day and know the rolling plains of the agrarian district were within reach once the district fell ba sing se's main food source would be cut off and then he would just have to wait untill lack of food compelled the stubborn earth kingdom troops to surrender "And then lu ten and I can return home" he whispered to himself. Home that word alone had kept him and his men going through almost ten straight years of campaigning from the streets of goaling to the gates of ba sing se every mile further into the earth kingdom brought them closer to the end of the war and the promise of returning to the fire nation has conquering heroes. As they neared the front the Iroh and his staff passed signs of the fighting that had engulfed the area for the past two years abandoned trenches that marked the bloody movings of the front lines, and human bones that litterd the ground marking where the hopes and dreams of a young life were cut eternally short and then as they neared the outer wall the signs became fresher and more gruesome the bloated corpses of the recently deceased were spread all around the wall and its surrounding area making iroh feel a sudden pang of guilt all these men are dead because of me he thought dead just so i can prove a point but just as the thought appeared he banished it yes they are dead nothing can change that it was now his duty to make sure they didn't die for nothing, that they would become the revered martyrs of a world reborn in fire.

"my lord the enemy is forming up outside the wall"! Iroh looked at the young officer in disbelief surely whoever commanded the garrison couldnt be that stupid? but as he gazed across the open field he saw the officer was right tens of thousands of earth kingdom soldiers were advancing in perfect formation towards his siege camp he guessed they would be their within the hour leaving precious little time to prepare he quickly turned to an aide "Inform general yamato he is too bring the reserve division up immediately tell him time is of the essence" he then turned to general hesegi his cheif of artillery "how much ammunition do you have?" "not much" he said with a worried expression on his face this was without a doubt the largest assault he had ever seen even by earth kingdom standards he guessed there were probably at least eighty thousand men advancing towards him "damn it man concentrate" iroh said shaking him back into focus "tell your men to hold fire untill they are assured to hit something. do i make my self clear"? "yes" hesegi said still casting a nervous glance at the wall of earth kingdom troops approaching

As his front line moved closer and closer to the seige camp the earth kingdom commander began to slowly hope that maybe this attack wasnt as suicidal as he feared it would be. When the young earth king was finally informed of the war going on outside his palace wall he immediately ordered a counterattack to "sweep the invaders from our sacred lands" the fact that facing the invaders from a massive wall would be infinitely better never seemed to occur to him.

Iroh waited untill the earth kingdom army was with in two hundred yards untill he gave the order to fire the effect was devastating the balliste bolts cut bloody swaths through the earth kingdom line often one bolt would pass through five men yet still they came even as thousand of their brothers were cut down they moved closer and closer towards the wall iroh then gave the signal for the archers to fire and thousand more earth kingdom troops dropped many riddled with arrows yet on they came undeterred by their losses untill they had finally reached the fire nation line and with a great cheer they hurled themselves into the fire nation line at first the line held but then it was forced back slowly at first but as the fighting went on and their numbers dwindled the fire nation troops for the first time since the campaign started all those years ago began to look to the rear for salvation and then single regiment broke and fled and then a brigade and then a division untill the entire center of the line seemed to dissaper the flanks then found themselves being attacked from two sides and it seemed as though the entire army would be destroyed before the reserves arrived but then something miraculous happened a young officer grabbed a fallen flag and imploring the routing troops to rally with him and save their comrades rushed into the maelstrom shamed by this display of courage the troops followed the officer and fighting with a new ferocity that only desperate men can have slowly began to push the earth kingdom line back and then the reserves arrived.

one of the reasons yamato was chosen to lead the reserve division was the fact he could be trusted to lead independently and think on his feet seeing that simply throwing his division into the fight would merely compel the earth kingdom troops to retreat behind their hight wall he devised a different strategy ordering his Calvary [three thousand in all] to move behind the earth kingdom line he instructed his infantry to form up on the earth kingdom flank and to await further instruction once his Calvary was behind the earth kingdom line he sprung his trap the infantry fifteen thousand in all slammed into the flank throwing it back in confusion then the Calvary hit the rear driving them into the fire nation infantry which were now on both flanks and the center the earth kingdom army was now completely encircled even worse they were so tightly packed together they could not even bring their swords up to defend themselves and so the fire nation soldiers merely advanced and stabbed untill the last earth kingdom soldier was killed.

Iroh was exhausted that had been the hardest and longest battle he had ever fought in his long career and he desperately needed rest but there was still work to be done chief among them collecting the dead and assuring they received a proper burial and as he had always done before he walked amongst the dead lined up in rows committing each face to memory so no man would be forgotten untill he came across a face that was all to familiar "no" he sank to his knees "no" he picked the lifeless corpse up and held to his chest "oh agni please no!" the corpse was that of his son lu ten the officer who in that desperate moment when the center collapsed rallied the men and led them forward iroh was so beset with grief that he didnt even notice yamato come toward him "i'm sorry sir he was a great officer" yamato was a man of many talents consoling the grieving alas was not one of them "perhaps you should escort the body home it would give you some time to think" "no"! iroh snarled frightening even himself there is still work to be done and then turning his eyes toward the inner wall whispered in a cool deadly voice "you will suffer for this you will burn for this"

"now remember you must address him as fire lord azulon" azula let out an annoyed sigh "but why mother? he's not exactly the great fire bender he used to be." her mother gave her a sharp look "why must you challenge me on everything why cant you be more like zuko and do watch your told?" "_ah yes because its always been my dream to be a disgrace of a firbender who spends his days feeding turtleducks by the pond mommy you know me so well"_ just then a guard opened the door "you may enter". "_my oh my what a horrible soldier you must have been to be reduced to the royal door opener" _ azula walked into the throne room before her was name sake azulon a man who had ruled for over seventy years _yes the old fool just wont hurry up and die will he?_ she then halted as did her mother and brother but her father prince ozai continued further a few more paces " father i present you with my daughter azula a true fire nation prodigy". "_if im a prodigy why did you assign me with a performance any halfway talented bender could do?" _azula's train of thought was suddenly interrupted when a messenger burst through the door "my lord ba sing se has been taken"

**AN considering how horrible chpater one was i decided to redo it dont worry though chapter 3 should be done soon and please review **


	2. Chapter 2

broken man chapter 2

iroh stood on the palace balcony observing the city it had once been beautiful. It had once been the center of a great civilization but no more now barely a single building stood and the few that did were so heavily damaged that they were uninhabitable. All of that was his doing. After the last pocket of resistance had been cleared out[an incredibly brave yet ultimately hopeless last stand by the royal guard] he had allowed his men a week to run wild and all the pent-up anger that had festered during those two long years was unleashed the slaughter had been terrible with hundreds of thousands of the cities populace butchered without mercy he himself had witnessed much of it. From a young officer who would causally behead a passing civilian with about has much emotion as if he was slicing bread, a squad that had herded a group of nuns into a temple and then set it aflame and a general who had the fifty thousand or so prisoners his division captured crucified in the agrarian zone [the general had then informed him rather proudly that once the bodies were cut down they would help fertilize the ground] all through that horrible butchery he had done nothing to intervene in fact if any thing he had encouraged it going so far as telling the men that ba sing se deserved its fate for resisting so fiercely in the face of such hopeless odds but it was more personal than that for in his mind every inhabitant of the city was responsible for the fate of the son he idolized now in a mass grave [lu tens final wish was to be buried with his men] "they have suffered greatly" he said coldly "but not enough" he then hered a knock at the door "come" he said rather annoyed at being interrupted a captain with a livid scar down his cheek then came in and after saluting smartly said in a rather monotone voice "the fire lord and the rest of the royal family have arrive sir"

azulon had dreamed of this moment his entire life to finally walk through a conquered ba sing se the jewel of the earth kingdom a symbol to all those who stood against the fire nation he smiled jovially at a group of passing soldiers who stared dumbly at the fire lord unsure of what to do "well you insolent peasants didnt they teach you how to bow in training" he heard his idiot of a son ozai say behind him and embarrassed the soldiers did just that. Azulon shook his head "rise rise" he said pleasantly and then turning to ozai said in a voice that made ice seem warm "bow to these men" "what"? ozai asked obviously infuriated "I said bow to these men who have done more for this nation than you could do in your entire life and while you're at it the rest of your family can bow too" if ozai had looked angry before he know looked ready to explode and azulon wondered hopefully that perhaps ozai would refuse and provide him with a reason to finally rid himself of his failure of a son but ozai weakling that he was, bowed motioning his family to do the same. Only the girl still stood "you do not bow?" he asked in a dangerous tone for he did not like being defied "no firelord for in your book you said a noble should never bow to a commoner because it disrupts the natural order of things that Agni himself designed" azulon breifly considered turning his grandaughter into a heap of ash but then surprised everyone including himself by letting out a hearty laugh "well ozai how does it feel knowing an eight year old girl has bigger balls than you" and with that he continued his walk to the palace.

iroh stood at the entrance of the great palace observing the procession azulon was flanked on either side by a member of the imperial guard both men towering over the ancient firelord for they were selected not only on the basis of their experience[ten years of campaigning minimum] but also their imposing height iroh guessed that both men were over six-foot which would make them giants even for the guard immediately behind azulon and the guardsmen was irohs brother and his family ozai had a look of pure rage fixed on his face while zuko and ursa both looked rather disturbed by what they had seen in the city and the area surrounding it. Azula however had a look of profound interest as if the wrecked hell hole was the city was single most marvelous thing she had seen her entire life. azulon shook irohs hand warmly "well done my son" then ozai took his hand and said in a voiced tinged in barely held contempt "well done brother" iroh then led them into the throne room of the former earth king who at the moment was in the dungeon awaiting trial for not surrendering ba sing se sooner the fact he didn't know the war was going on of course meant nothing. He then picked up the crown of the earth king and handed it solemnly to azulon "for you father" the firelord took it in his hands and then gave it back to iroh "no son you shall rule here in my name ozai shall rule the fire nation and I shall rule as phoenix king" everyone in the room let out an audible gasp in firenation lore the phoenix king was the prophesied ruler who would rule the world under the holy banner of Agni ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity azulon waited a moment for the weight of what he had just said to set in before continuing "after I die iroh shall take the title of phoenix and an heir of his choosing shall rule the earth kingdom". ozai then cleared his throat noisily "what of the water tribes father"? azulon fixed his son with an annoyed look don't worry your idiot head about the water tribe that problem will be fixed soon enough"

a fortnight later they were still in ba sing se azula was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to leave the filthy shit hole The smell of death permeated every nook and cranny of the city polluting everything in it. She also had difficulty sleeping the sight of the men on the crosses greeting her whenever she closed her eyes. Of course she could never outwardly show such weakness she was a princess of the fire nation after all and as such would act like one bottling up her emotions as her father expected no demanded of her and her brother though he still could not master this skill so he would often skulk off to their mother weakling that he was. Ah their mother the only chink in her otherwise impenetrable armor a woman full of love for little zuzu but not for her the few times she would show anything resembling motherly affection toward her like a hug her perhaps a reassuring kiss on the forehead would come out awkward and forced because deep down in her heart azula knew that her mother did not truly love her in fact it was quite the opposite azula suspected her mother hated her for she was everything her mother and by extension zuko was not strong,cunning,and above all a great firebender perhaps she thought with a smile the greatest for no one had ever shown as much promise at such and early age then azula and when she finally reached the pinnacle of her skill she would teach all those who had wronged her a harsh lesson starting with her father ah yes her beloved father a man who beat and burned her whenever her posture was a bit off or perhaps was just annoyed with something _"ah damn seems like the fish was a little undercooked azula be a good girl and let daddy hit you!"_ azula was so deep in thought that she didn't hear the knocking in the door untill it escalated into a serious banging "come in" she said trying to hide the fear in her voice if it was her father she would suffer but it was not her fathers face that peered through the door but her mothers "there's some kind of ceromony going on we are expected to be there" _"ceremony what for?_

ozai sat at the table waiting impatiently for the supposed ceremony to begin when he and his family finally got to the royal hall after having to wait for azula to finally arrive [he would have to give her a lesson on punctuality later] they had been seated at a single massive wooden table with every chair facing the door except for two chairs directly facing the firelord the fact that ozai was seated right next to azulon gave him a better view than everyone else except iroh who was also at his father's side. then finally a member of the guard came in followed by to everyones shock two watertribe members one of apparent high rank "great and holy phoenix king I present to you arnook of the Northern water tribe and hokoda of the southern water tribe" it was interesting to compare the two ozai thought while arnook had the dress and manner of a nobleman hokoda was in the simple dress of a commoner while ozai was observing this azulon spoke "I thank you for travelling such a long distance the fact that you came shows that you are wise and care much for your people" while arnook nodded formally obviously trained for such occasions at court hakoda was having none of it "cease with the pleasantries why did you summon us" azulon smiled "my apologies I did not mean to waste your time the reason I called you is simple I offer you peace and the ability to keep your independence" both men were taken aback by this "a great offer" arnook said "what are your terms"? "my terms are this you shall be allowed to keep your lands and your armies however you are to each provide five hundred hostages to assure us you have no treachery planned these five hundred hostages are to all come from the children of noble families including your own you are to also give us one regiment to serve a period of five years to act as auxiliary units" both men looked furious "that is outrageous"! hakoda raged "you expect us to give you five hundred hostages including our children" azulon unphased simply nodded "yes I do and in exchange for this generous sum you and your people get to continue your existence in that frozen wasteland you call home however if you refuse then general iroh will march his army to your lands and I assure you he will not be as merciful with you as he was to the people of ba sing se" "yes" inputed iroh "after all some of them are still alive" with this hakoda deflated "very well" he said defeatedly he then stood up and after signing the treaty slumped heavily back into his chair" arnook looking at his companion with sympathy also signed and with that the war after almost a hundred years was over


End file.
